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Nordic Horizons is an informal group of Scottish professionals who want to raise the standard of knowledge and debate about life and policy in the Nordic nations. We’ve been holding public meetings in Edinburgh since 2010 so Nordic specialists can discuss how they do things with decision-makers, practitioners, MSPs, academics and the interested public here. We try to produce audio recordings of the meeting and even short interviews with speakers. You can browse topics, content and voices here. And join our Facebook group , or listen via SoundCloud or watch via Vimeo or follow us on Twitter to join live debate and discuss Nordic news as it happens.

Friday, March 31, 2017

This was a very special event for Nordic Horizons. It was the first after the sad death of our great friend and Nordic Horizons champion, Paddy Bort. The night was special and we hope you find the recording of this gathering to be informative and educational. It was.

We have a variety of materials from the event, including a short interview with our main speaker , Frode Lindtvedt. There are his slides and a full recording, in both video and audio, of the whole event. We would encourage you to share these items as widely as possible. Thanks.

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

This is a new publication from the Nordic Horizons team of Lesley Riddoch and the late Paddy Bort. It is a an interesting synopsis of a Nordic Horizons symposium from earlier this year. With a stellar cast of contributors, this short volume is both informative and provocative - download additional details here.

Monday, January 30, 2017

Speaker: Frode Lindtvedt, Director of Local Democracy, International Politics and External Affairs at KS

March 9 - 17.30 -19.30 at the Scottish Parliament

Scotland has the largest councils in Europe, serving on average 170,000 people. The European average is 14,000. It's thought that the remoteness of Scottish 'local' government contributes to our low turnout rates – 38% at the last council elections. Now the Convention Of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) and the Electoral Reform Society (ERS) have both called for large councils to be broken up.

Can Scotland afford more genuinely local democracy? How would councils in economically deprived areas manage if they relied on their own localities for income? Would it break the bank to pay more councilors £16,000 each a year? How do other countries do it?

Norway and Scotland have similar sizes of population. But Scotland has only 32 councils while Norway has 429. Norwegians have just rejected proposals to merge councils to save money. Why? And how can they make powerful town council, people-sized, government work without duplication of work or corruption?

Frode Lindtvedt is the Director of Local Democracy, International Politics and External Affairs at the Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities / Kommunenes Sentralforbund (KS), the Norwegian equivalent of COSLA.

In 2015 more than 163,000 asylum seekers arrived in Sweden, more per capita than in any other European country, including Germany. The sharp increase in the number of people fleeing Syria and other war-torn countries was labeled a 'migrant crisis' in Europe. How did Sweden deal with the issue? What lessons can be learned?

Even before the recent Syrian crisis Sweden was already one of Europe’s most welcoming countries to refugees. But the country has found it dificult to integrate newcomers and find jobs for refugees and asylum seekers with little grasp of the Swedish language.

Mikael Ribbenvik, Acting Director of the Swedish Migration Agency, explains why Sweden has become the Nordic nation with the most open attitude to migrants and refugees and shares his experience in managing the recent surge in migration applications.

Sunday, October 30, 2016

It was an amazing afternoon of presentations, insights and discussion at the 'Scotland after Brexit - Lessons from the Nordics' event. Courtesy of DemocracyTV, we have a recording of the whole live stream in 4 parts.

With Mikael Ribbenvik, Acting Director of the Swedish Migration Agency

Chaired by Lesley Riddoch, Writer & Broadcaster

In 2015 more than 163,000 asylum seekers arrived in Sweden, more per capita than in any other European country, including Germany. The sharp increase in the number of people fleeing Syria and other war-torn countries was labeled a 'migrant crisis' in Europe. How did Sweden deal with the issue? What lessons can be learned?

Even before the recent Syrian crisis Sweden was already one of Europe’s most welcoming countries to refugees. But the country has found it dificult to integrate newcomers and find jobs for refugees and asylum seekers with little grasp of the Swedish language.

Mikael Ribbenvik, Acting Director of the Swedish Migration Agency, explains why Sweden has become the Nordic nation with the most open attitude to migrants and refugees and shares his experience in managing the recent surge in migration applications.

Thursday, October 20, 2016

If you are a school student, college student or a university student; you can come to the Scotland after Brexit - Lessons from the Nordics for FREE. To reserve your place for the event taking place on October 29 from 12- 5.30pm at the George Square Theatre at the University of Edinburgh - just email Dan Wynn ( danwynn at hotmail.co.uk ) to get your ticket.

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Professor Tore Furevik delivered an interesting and engaging presentation at the recent Nordic Horizons event. Despite a number technical challenges, we have assembled a range of digital artefacts which capture the event. Here is a copy of his full presentation. You can download here.

We have video footage of the whole event from Democracy TV which you can view below;

We also recorded a short interview with Professor Furevik before the event and he outlined the main topics of his presentation.